Quirky Mom, Quirky Family
We took our middle son to the pediatrician yesterday morning to address a few things – his stutters, some tics he’s developed, some we’ve been watching for a year or more, his in-toeing, his facial structure. You know, the usual. For us. [Read more...]
Just a follow up, mainly for my own records
So I spoke with the principal for about 30 seconds on my way to a meeting with another teacher this morning and it sounds like M’s teacher spoke with the kids and the P. got a letter and will be looking at it today. She said she would call me once she sees what is going on. I must have misunderstood Mrs. C yesterday afternoon in her usual whirlwind conversationing :/
Spoke to his aide this AM on the way out to the car and she said Mrs. C thought M wanted to tell her about gym and M said no, I want to tell you what happened so she stopped to listen and immediately went to take care of it, leaving the aide with the class. So go Mrs. C! Mrs H, his aide, said the class is usually nice and likes M a lot and he really fits in well – in other words, this is unusual, and it sounded like gym is with another class and the kids were from that class, not his usual group. I guess I’ll find out exactly later today or tomorrow. Mrs. H said she had to try not to cry, and she could see M was very upset (and he is usually pretty even-tempered/nothing upsets this kid kind of temperament).
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Just spoke with Dr. S (the principal) and she spoke with M. Long story short, it sounds like this was an isolated incident (not on-going), he knows to say something to the teacher if it happens again. The boys were spoken to. M will permanently go with the other class for special. The boy who started it was running like M and said “look, this is how M runs” and the other boys laughed. They told Dr. S that M laughed too, and she explained that sometimes when someone makes fun of you that you laugh too so it doesn’t look like you are upset when really you are. She also asked M if he sometimes teases his brother or sister and he said no (he really doesn’t) and then she asked if they sometimes tease him and he said E doesn’t, but sometimes D does, and she said it was kind of like that, and no it isn’t nice and really made sure he was still comfortable reporting stuff like this in the future. The other teacher had the *entire* class, not just the boys involved, write apology notes this AM for M as a lesson that even if you aren’t actively involved, if you see it you need to report it. Dr. S said she felt like M thought it was a bit much LOL
So, that’s that. Happily anti-climactic and hopefully wont happen again.
M’s teacher walked him out and all the way down to the car today, which usually means really good or really bad news. It was bad. I’ve kind of been waiting for it to happen since he started school, but it didn’t take the sting out of hearing it.
He was ganged up on and bullied by four other boys in gym today – they were making fun of how he runs.
He did what he was supposed to do and reported it, and his teacher had a one hour conference with the boys in question, the principal and I think the school resource officer is required to be present at those meetings as well. She let me know, and also let me know that he will now be split into the other half of the class with a different teacher for gym, has been “given” a special table at lunch (I’m unclear if it is for the next two weeks, a privilege once every two weeks, or permanent – I need to talk to her for more than 60 seconds) with three kids he gets to pick, and was told that it doesn’t matter how he runs because he is one of the smartest kids in third grade.
I wanted to have a quarterly conference anyway, so hopefully it will be soon and we can touch on this too. I am a big proponent of kids will be kids and they need to learn to stick up for themselves *but* there is a line between what I consider harmless kid antics and just being mean, and making fun because of a physical or mental disability crosses that line as far as I am concerned. M has some developmental delays that are physical and some that are neurological and aren’t anything he can “fix”, ya know? He totally runs like a “special” kid – I think it’s endearing, but I’m his mom. I was also sad when he finally got a grasp of time and stopped asking if things were “after tomorrow” or “after three tomorrows”. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we just had yesterday, today and tomorrow? Meh.
So, bullies suck and while I am glad it got resolved quickly and decisively, and I was anticipating it happening sooner rather than later, it still sucks.
Malachai had a small bit of a paper to make up, so after fighting with him to do it, it takes all of a minute. So I had to check it.
The question was “What was the author trying to tell us in “Time Flies?” Use facts from the story to support your answer”
His answer? “The author was trying to tell us facts.”
Commence hysterical laughter.
Needless to say he had to change it somewhat, and I don’t think he did it properly at all, but hey, short of writing it for him I did my best mom-help-fu.
I kind of took myself off-line for a while there. Did I get more accomplished? Maybe. Did I spend more time with my kids? Definitely.
The internet is a wonderful thing. This week alone we’ve looked up naked mole rats, Harry Potter costuming, replaced a broken toy, and a handful of other things. We also got a new-to-us kids-sized game table from our local FreeCycle which the kids are loving.
There is something to be said for hanging out with your kids though, even if it’s just watching a movie or eating dinner or some other daily drudge type thing.
So, it probably won’t be another month until you hear from me again, but it wouldn’t surprise me either. I’m having gutters installed today. I’m talking to Dad about replacing the drywall in the front room, laying some new carpet and some other misc. household improvement items. I want to put up some real shelves too – get rid of the bookcase shelves. I just told Michael, if I can’t do the entire room at once, I can do a small part, right? Hey, a million pennies is 100,000 dollars, right? You gotta collect those one at a time.
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